Drinking Up at the Macau Wine Museum

The Macau Wine Museum aims to introduce the development and significance of the brewing culture of wine to each and every guest of its museum. Inaugurated on December of 1995, the museum houses about 1,115 brands of wine with 765 commercial wines and 359 collection wines. The oldest and most special one is a Porto that was produced in 1815.

Inside the Macau Wine Museum

This 1,400 square meter area is divided into different sections such Historical Information, the Wine Cellar and the Museum and Exhibitions. The museum is filled with maps, photos, texts, tiles and videos all about wine. By combining, culture, education and amusement into one complete entity, the wine museum introduces the brewery, the history of grape, and the tools and utensils used for brewing all in one museum. The museum covers the different trademark regions in Portugal as well as samples of wine making used in the People’s Republic of China. All varieties are then accompanied by a short explanation. Not only this, the museum also presents the modern and traditional tools used for wine production.

Many people actually wonder why a wine museum exists in Macau considering that Macau is not and never was a wine country, after all. The reason lies in Portugal’s colonization of the city for more than a hundred years. Portugal is internationally known as a wine producer so, in time, Macau had developed a wine culture of its own greatly influenced by the Portuguese.

The aim of the museum is not only to provide information regarding wine and grapevines but to recreate an atmosphere that involves the production of wine. The place is decorated to look like a rustic Portuguese cellar that exhibits collections of historic bottles. Even better, visitors will be able to taste different types of wine in an activity known as “Prove de vinhos” or wine tasting. Around 50 freshly brewed wine varieties can be tasted by visitors, which provides a rather intoxicating yet pleasurable experience that is included in the ticket price.

Mannequins dressed in various regional dresses of the different regions in Portugal can be seen in the museum. A group of 18th Century porcelain bricks decorated with drawings about grape wine and vineyards can also be seen at one point in the museum. Some works remain original drawings while some are replicas.

The wine museum is open daily except on Tuesdays from 10 in the morning until 6 in the evening. It is located inside the Macau Tourism Activities Center, which is quite close to the Macau Grand Prix Museum. Admission fees are at MOP$ 15 for adults inclusive of the wine tasting experience, MOP$ 5 for teenagers aged 11 to 18 years old and without charge for kids under 10 and elders above 60.

The main target of the museum is to encourage awareness of the social, cultural and economical importance of wine in the traditions, celebrations and daily life of not only the Portuguese but also of the Macanese as well. Stop by the Macau Wine Museum if you have a taste for flavor and be amazed by the delightful drinks.

Sarah loves traveling the world. She started with a simple domestic trip and the rest was history, including her savings. She has been living around South East Asia for the past years and another continent looks to be her next destination.